300 Tang Poems About the electronic version Tang Shi San Bai Shou 300 Tang Poems Heng-t'ang-t'ui-Shih, 618-907 Creation of machine-readable version: Xuezhi Guo. Chung-ming Lung. Conversion to TEI.P3-conformant markup: University of Virginia Electronic Text Center. University of Virginia Alderman Library Humanities Services. University of Virginia Electronic Center Charlottesville, VA Alderman Library, University of Virginia Charlottesville VA 22903 URL: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/chinese/ 1997 The Chinese version of this Tang Shi is edited by UVa based on Mr. Wei-chang Shan's electronic version. English translations are primarily from Witter Bynner's Jade mountain. Translations of poems 001, 003, 039, 040, 042, 083 and 084 are from 300 Tang Poems of Commercial Press. Translations of poems 190, 191, 193 are from "Perspectives on the Tang" edited by Arthur Wright and Denis Twitchett, published by Yale University Press, 1973. About the print version The Jade Mountain Translator Witter Bynner. Alfred A.Knopf New York 1920 Reprinted with permission of the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry. - About the print version 300 Tang Poems : a new translation Editor Yuan-zhong Xu. Bei-yei Loh. Juntao Wu. Translator Various. Commercial Press Hong Kong 1987 Reproduced by permission of the Commercial Press (Hong Kong) Limited from the publication of "300 Tang Poems : A New Translation" ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - 001 Five-character-ancient-verse Zhang Jiuling THOUGHTS I A lonely swan from the sea flies, To alight on puddles it does not deign. Nesting in the poplar of pearls It spies and questions green birds twain: "Don't you fear the threat of slings, Perched on top of branches so high? Nice clothes invite pointing fingers, High climbers god's good will defy. Bird-hunters will crave me in vain, For I roam the limitless sky." 002 Five-character-ancient-verse Zhang Jiuling ORCHID AND ORANGE I Tender orchid-leaves in spring And cinnamon- blossoms bright in autumn Are as self- contained as life is, Which conforms them to the seasons. Yet why will you think that a forest-hermit, Allured by sweet winds and contented with beauty, Would no more ask to-be transplanted THan Would any other natural flower? 003 Five-character-ancient-verse Zhang Jiuling THOUGHTS III The hermit in his lone abode Nurses his thoughts cleansed of care, Them he projects to the wild goose For it to his distant Sovereign to bear. Who will be moved by the sincerity Of my vain day-and-night prayer? What comfort is for my loyalty When fliers and sinkers can compare? 004 Five-character-ancient-verse Zhang Jiuling ORCHID AND ORANGE II Here, south of the Yangzi, grows a red orangetree. All winter long its leaves are green, Not because of a warmer soil, But because its' nature is used to the cold. Though it might serve your honourable guests, You leave it here, far below mountain and river. Circumstance governs destiny. Cause and effect are an infinite cycle. You plant your peach-trees and your plums, You forget the shade from this other tree. 005 Five-character-ancient-verse Li Bai DOWN ZHONGNAN MOUNTAIN TO THE KIND PILLOW AND BOWL OF HUSI Down the blue mountain in the evening, Moonlight was my homeward escort. Looking back, I saw my path Lie in levels of deep shadow.... I was passing the farm-house of a friend, When his children called from a gate of thorn And led me twining through jade bamboos Where green vines caught and held my clothes. And I was glad of a chance to rest And glad of a chance to drink with my friend.... We sang to the tune of the wind in the pines; And we finished our songs as the stars went down, When, I being drunk and my friend more than happy, Between us we forgot the world. 006 Five-character-ancient-verse Li Bai DRINKING ALONE WITH THE MOON From a pot of wine among the flowers I drank alone. There was no one with me -- Till, raising my cup, I asked the bright moon To bring me my shadow and make us three. Alas, the moon was unable to drink And my shadow tagged me vacantly; But still for a while I had these friends To cheer me through the end of spring.... I sang. The moon encouraged me. I danced. My shadow tumbled after. As long as I knew, we were boon companions. And then I was drunk, and we lost one another. ...Shall goodwill ever be secure? I watch the long road of the River of Stars. 007 Five-character-ancient-verse Li Bai IN SPRING Your grasses up north are as blue as jade, Our mulberries here curve green-threaded branches; And at last you think of returning home, Now when my heart is almost broken.... O breeze of the spring, since I dare not know you, Why part the silk curtains by my bed? 008 Five-character-ancient-verse Du Fu A VIEW OF TAISHAN What shall I say of the Great Peak? -- The ancient dukedoms are everywhere green, Inspired and stirred by the breath of creation, With the Twin Forces balancing day and night. ...I bare my breast toward opening clouds, I strain my sight after birds flying home. When shall I reach the top and hold All mountains in a single glance? 009 Five-character-ancient-verse Du Fu TO MY RETIRED FRIEND WEI It is almost as hard for friends to meet As for the morning and evening stars. Tonight then is a rare event, Joining, in the candlelight, Two men who were young not long ago But now are turning grey at the temples. ...To find that half our friends are dead Shocks us, burns our hearts with grief. We little guessed it would be twenty years Before I could visit you again. When I went away, you were still unmarried; But now these boys and girls in a row Are very kind to their father's old friend. They ask me where I have been on my journey; And then, when we have talked awhile, They bring and show me wines and dishes, Spring chives cut in the night-rain And brown rice cooked freshly a special way. ...My host proclaims it a festival, He urges me to drink ten cups -- But what ten cups could make me as drunk As I always am with your love in my heart? ...Tomorrow the mountains will separate us; After tomorrow-who can say? 010 Five-character-ancient-verse Du Fu ALONE IN HER BEAUTY Who is lovelier than she? Yet she lives alone in an empty valley. She tells me she came from a good family Which is humbled now into the dust. ...When trouble arose in the Kuan district, Her brothers and close kin were killed. What use were their high offices, Not even shielding their own lives? -- The world has but scorn for adversity; Hope goes out, like the light of a candle. Her husband, with a vagrant heart, Seeks a new face like a new piece of jade; And when morning-glories furl at night And mandarin-ducks lie side by side, All he can see is the smile of the new love, While the old love weeps unheard. The brook was pure in its mountain source, But away from the mountain its waters darken. ...Waiting for her maid to come from selling pearls For straw to cover the roof again, She picks a few flowers, no longer for her hair, And lets pine-needles fall through her fingers, And, forgetting her thin silk sleeve and the cold, She leans in the sunset by a tall bamboo. 011 Five-character-ancient-verse Du Fu SEEING Li Bai IN A DREAM I There are sobs when death is the cause of parting; But life has its partings again and again. ...From the poisonous damps of the southern river You had sent me not one sign from your exile -- Till you came to me last night in a dream, Because I am always thinking of you. I wondered if it were really you, Venturing so long a journey. You came to me through the green of a forest, You disappeared by a shadowy fortress.... Yet out of the midmost mesh of your snare, How could you lift your wings and use them? ...I woke, and the low moon's glimmer on a rafter Seemed to be your face, still floating in the air. ...There were waters to cross, they were wild and tossing; If you fell, there were dragons and rivermonsters. 012 Five-character-ancient-verse Du Fu SEEING Li Bai IN A DREAM II This cloud, that has drifted all day through the sky, May, like a wanderer, never come back.... Three nights now I have dreamed of you -- As tender, intimate and real as though I were awake. And then, abruptly rising to go, You told me the perils of adventure By river and lake-the storms, the wrecks, The fears that are borne on a little boat; And, here in my doorway, you rubbed your white head As if there were something puzzling you. ...Our capital teems with officious people, While you are alone and helpless and poor. Who says that the heavenly net never fails? It has brought you ill fortune, old as you are. ...A thousand years' fame, ten thousand years' fame- What good, when you are dead and gone. 013 Five-character-quatrain Wang Wei AT PARTING I dismount from my horse and I offer you wine, And I ask you where you are going and why.